UPDATE 1-Russia's Timchenko says has "no interest" in buying Bashneft

MOSCOW, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Russian businessman Gennady Timchenko said on Tuesday he was not interested in buying mid-sized oil company Bashneft and would not be interested in doing so in the future.

MOSCOW Dec 9 (Reuters) - Russian businessman Gennady
Timchenko said on Tuesday he was not interested in buying
mid-sized oil company Bashneft and would not be
interested in doing so in the future.

A Moscow court handed shares in Bashneft to the state
earlier this year after ruling its privatisation had been
unlawful. Since then speculation has been rife over who will buy
Bashneft, Russia's fastest growing oil company by output.

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Timchenko, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and
Russia's biggest oil company Rosneft, led by another
Putin ally, Igor Sechin, have been named as possible future
owners by industry sources among others.

Asked whether he was interested in buying Bashneft,
Timchenko told Reuters on the sidelines of a Moscow conference:
"This is complete nonsense. There was no interest towards
Bashneft and there will not be such (interest)."

Rosneft also denied any interest in Bashneft on Tuesday.

In an interview with Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung newspaper last month, Russian Economy Minister Alexei
Ulyukayev suggested Bashneft should not be bought by a state
company.

"I think Bashneft should be privatised using
generally-accepted rules but not via purchase by another company
controlled by the state," Ulyukayev said.
(Reporting by Denis Pinchuk and Katya Golubkova, editing by
Elizabeth Piper)